research
I am an associate professor in the Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines, a public university focused on engineering and applied science in the domains of “Earth, Energy, and Environment.”
Broadly speaking, I study how environmental problems are defined and solutions are enacted (and to what effect). My work focuses primarily on water politics and power in the American West and spans several types of hydrosocial systems. I have active projects on groundwater pumping (why is it hardly measured and monitored?), surface water management (what might the future hold for hydropower reservoirs approaching dead pool?), and atmospheric intervention (how has cloud seeding emerged as a water fix despite its uncertain track record and ethical challenges?).
My academic background is interdisciplinary, with training primarily in environmental studies (PhD) and secondarily in hydrology (MS). I draw theoretically and methodologically from literatures in human-environment geography (especially political ecology), science and technology studies, and environmental policy. I utilize mixed qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, and media and document analysis. I make public engagement and outreach a focus of my scholarship.
My research has been published in Geoforum, Water Alternatives, Energy Policy, Energy Research & Social Science, Environmental Science & Technology, Society & Natural Resources, The Extractive Industries & Society, Environmental Communication, and Case Studies in the Environment. I have also written about environmental politics for High Country News and The Conversation.
My work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
About
I hold a PhD in Environmental Studies and a Masters in Geography, both from the University of Colorado-Boulder. My undergraduate degree is in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University.
Prior to joining the faculty at Mines, I worked as a journalist covering science and technology policy in Washington, DC and as a graduate researcher and instructor at the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
I have also learned a lot about the world from adventures outside the academy, which have included (but are not limited to): waiting tables, serving coffees, teaching kids how to ski, teaching rockstars and CEOs how to mountain bike, writing for newspapers and magazines, racing competitively as a six-time Ironman triathlete with two trips to the world championships in Hawaii, cheering exuberantly for the Angel City Football Club in L.A., and adopting a border collie mix — not necessarily in that order. When I’m not teaching or researching, I enjoy parenting a precocious kiddo and playing bikes and/or skis with my husband.
TEACHING
U.S. Water Politics & Policy (HASS 484/584)
Environmental Justice (HASS 468/568)
Global Studies: Environment (HASS 200)
Water Futures (HASS 215)
contact
akroepsch (at) mines.edu
303-384-2565
Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, Colorado, 80401
CURRICULUM VITAE
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(last updated March 2023)
land acknowledgement
I respectfully acknowledge that the Colorado School of Mines is located on the ancestral homelands of the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne nations, and that these lands also served as a meeting ground for many more first peoples (the Apache nation, the Pueblo tribes, the Shoshone tribe, and more). In my teaching and my research, I strive to deepen students’ understanding—and my own understanding—of settler colonialism, tribal sovereignty, the extraordinary resilience of native nations, and first peoples’ important contributions to the past, present, and future of this place.